Leadership
Valerie Daggett, PhD
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
AltPep is a spinout from Dr. Daggett’s University of Washington Lab in the Department of Bioengineering in the School of Medicine and College of Engineering. She has 30+ years research experience focused on protein folding, misfolding and disease. Dr. Daggett’s lab developed methods for simulations of protein conformational changes, performed the first such studies in the amyloid field and in so doing discovered the novel protein structure associated with toxicity that forms the basis of AltPep’s platform. Dr. Daggett holds a BA from Reed College, PhD from the University of California, San Francisco, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University.
Patrik Edenholm, JD, MA
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Patrik has extensive background in Intellectual Property transactions having closed over 200 deals as head of Siembra Law and Consulting LLC. He also founded of two technology startups, including Ansel Communications, the fastest growing private Washington company in 1996.
Kurt Becker, JD
CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER
Kurt is the Principal at Fulcrum Legal Services. He was formerly Chief Counsel for Outbound Contracts at Intellectual Ventures. Previously Kurt was a partner at Perkins Coie. His focus is on intellectual property, and technology licensing and transactions.
Charles Horne, MBA
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Chuck previously held executive and managerial roles in tech companies such as Dell Computer and Silicon Graphics, and was part of the executive team that turned around Safeco Corporation. In recent years he’s invested, advised, and served as CFO in startup companies before joining AltPep.
Gil Block, MD, PhD
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
Dr. Block has 33 years of experience in the pharma/biotech fields leading clinical development of drugs for a broad range of neurological indications, including Alzheimer’s Disease. He was at Merck for 14 years as Senior Director and Head of Clinical Neuropharmacology. Later he was the Executive Director, US Drug Development/Global Medicine & Science, at AstraZeneca. He has expertise ranging from preclinical and clinical translation, clinic development in all phases, to marketing approval.
Nancy Hill, MBA
CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER
Nancy has a track record of building and growing innovation-driven life science companies. With extensive experience in biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies and strengths in product development, commercialization and operations, she has built global businesses leading to multiple successful exits. Most recently, Nancy was Executive Vice President of Operations and Program Management at Adaptive Biotechnologies and a member of the core executive team that grew the company from early start-up through IPO to a multi-billion dollar peak market cap. Nancy is also President of the Seattle Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.
Soon Hyouk Lee, MBA
CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER
Soon Hyouk Lee has been an investor and operator in biotech since 2004. He previously led corporate development / M&A and partnerships at Acorda Therapeutics, a neurology company with approved medicines for MS and Parkinson’s disease. He brings a healthcare institutional investor perspective, having led global public biopharma investments at Alger Management, a fundamental, growth-focused investment firm, and with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, both in New York. He began his healthcare career with Oxford Bioscience Partners, a venture capital firm based in Boston and Westport, investing in early-stage therapeutics and medtech companies. Soon is a member of the Angel Investor Forum in Connecticut. He holds an undergraduate biology (neuroscience) degree with honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.